Temps
Asquietlyaswecould, the three of us slipped out from under the stands, walking closer to the open section that led down to the front row.Pastor Paine stood in the ring, his arms up high as he waxed on, the threads of his strange working shuttering through the air.He wasn’t a witch.This wasn’t innate talent or a deity that was giving him the power to conjure up change.
It was the demiurge, and everything about the working reeked like rotten meat and burnt hair.
“Blessed are His children, who shape the earth in His Will!”Paine kept his arms aloft as he looked down at the sacrifices, their muted cries muffled around gags I couldn’t see.“Do not heed His will and be made a meal for the God That Devours!All you fucking heathens, foolish sheep being herded to the slaughter, you will see in Him the face of your destruction!”
The rune on the floor began to glow, the red lighting flaring at the bottom of Paine’s face, making him look like the demonic terror he was.A bass thrum rumbled through the ground, and from the lines drawn into the floor, the earth began to crack.
He’s close.Wait for the moment he lets go.
Lizzie split off from her place next to me, moving toward the opposite stand and crouching slightly as she slipped forward.I did the same, trying to make myself small as Cerberus stalked forward.The wavering light around the people the circus stole flickered, that red infecting the bottom.I turned back to look at Dean Owens.She was clearly struggling, her hand outstretched over the wooden beam, fingers shaking.
“I welcome You into me, God of All!Take hold of your child and raise me up so that I might carry out Your will!”
Paine’s eyes rolled back, and he began to hover off the ground ever so slightly.
Now!
Cerberus rushed forward, speeding across the tent until he could make the leap for Paine.Lizzie popped out from behind the wooden cover, her hands shooting forward as she screamed a primal call.The trapeze performers noticed Cerberus and then, growling as they sank down into the haunches.One took off for Cerberus as the other rushed for Lizzie.I could feel the pull of her powers; this compulsion was sent to the trapeze performer’s head.She gripped her skull, screaming.Lizzie forced the weight of shame to the surface, making the woman double over, her eyes going bloodshot and feral.
I had to take care of the other one going for Cerberus.
A spell is desire made manifest.
Sucking in a deep breath, I found that reservoir of power within me, this gentle hum to it that I remember feeling when I’d first woken up after being stabbed.I’d sensed them there—Cerberus’ family, the ancient elders of Winter and Spring, Summer, and Autumn.I could feel the woman whose line was a part of my own, and I called for them, demanded my desire be made real.
“Stop him.”The snarling man, his costume coming undone as his body contorted into a grotesque version of muscular, too bulbous and veiny, leaped for Cerberus and then dropped as my power seized him.“Keep him down.Don’t let him up.Let Cerberus get to Paine.”
He thrashed on the ground, this way and that, and I had to fight against his strength, breaking out in a sweat as I forced him to stay planted on the earth.
But it worked.
Cerberus sprinted past, not stopped by the man, and he smashed into Paine, sending him flying as Cerberus tumbled purposefully and came to a skidding stop just in front of him, growling.Paine shot up from the floor, his body broken and bent at odd angles.He snapped himself back into position, wrenching his head back to the front.
What the hell?Is he dead?
“Fucking mutt!You will not stop His ascension!My God will rise!My line of Paine and suffering will be whole and everlasting!”
Paine reached through he air, taking hold of Cerberus the way I had his minion.Cerberus dug his claws into the ground, refusing to be moved.He fought through the hold, crawling across the dusty ground toward Paine.
“Arrgh!”
Shit.The man I held surged forward, getting his arms beneath him.I tried to press down again, but my arms shook.He reached back for something, and I twisted my hold, flipping him onto his back as I sucked in a breath.Whatever he was doing, I had to stop it.
But the power inside him wasn’t backing down.I could feel the change in the air, the way it smelled off.The demiurge was coming, and the cracks beneath Cerberus and Paine stretched wider.
“Lizzie!”I shouted over, chancing a glance at her and how she was maintaining the other one.“He’s too strong.I need you to get her down!”
“I’m fucking trying!”She stepped forward, her hands twisting in the air as she increased the volume.The woman screamed louder, but she still wasn’t out, not enough that Lizzie could help me.
Dammit!Think, Temps!
A blade soared through the air, and I just dodged it, snapping my attention back to the man I held down.With a quick jerk, I focused every ounce of my magic on his neck, yanking to the side.A snap echoed around the ring, and he went still.
“Oh, thank gods.”
“Temps!”Lizzie gestured behind me as I looked over, and I followed the line of sight to Dean Owens.
